After 23 years, the University of Texas decided to
reopen the school's landmark clock tower, the site of one of the nation's worst mass
murders. The 231-foot tower on the school's Austin campus, closed in 1975 after a series
of suicide leaps from its observation deck, will be refurbished and a safety barrier
added. It was from the same deck, 28 stories up, that student Charles Whitman opened fire
on Aug. 1, 1966. The 25-year-old former Marine, beset by personal problems and suffering
from a brain tumor, had already killed his wife and mother. In all, he killed 16 people
and wounded 31 that day before being shot to death by lawmen.